When You're a Parent With Diabetes: A Real Life Guide to Staying Healthy While Raising a Family » (1ST)

Kathryn Gregorio Palmer is the winner of the Bayer Ascensia Dream Fund Contest, which recognizes the achievements of people with diabetes. A mother of two who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 18, Palmer’s dream was to write this book to help other parents struggling with diabetes. The lead database developer for New England INDEX, a resource for people with disabilities, and previous Director of Programs for The Barton Center for Diabetes Education in North Oxford, Massachusetts, Palmer lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with her husband and sons.

Finding the time and energy to maintain a healthy diet and exercise program is a challenge for any parent–but it can be a matter of life and death for parents with diabetes. Diabetes in pregnancy, if poorly controlled, can increase the risk of miscarriage, birth defects, and prematurity. Mood swings and personality changes during a parent’s spells of low blood sugar can frighten young children. And even on good days, it can be difficult for a parent to remember to check their glucose levels in the haste of getting the kids off to school.

From the psychological to the medical to the purely practical, Kathryn Gregorio Palmer guides parents with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes through the ups and downs of staying healthy while raising a family. Helpful for adoptive and stepparents as well as moms and dads, the book answers questions such as:
• What are the risks of being pregnant with diabetes?
• Will I have the energy to handle a rambunctious child?
• Where can I hide my juice boxes so the kids don’t accidentally drink them all?
A mother of two, Palmer blends her own experience with expert advice and tips from other parents to create a compassionate and useful handbook that parents with diabetes will find indispensable.

Table of Contents:

Foreword by Florence M. Brown, MD

Preface by Jane K. Dickinson, RN, PhD, CDE

Introduction

Chapter 1: Preparing for Parenthood

Chapter 2: Becoming a Parent

Chapter 3: The First Year of Parenthood

Chapter 4: The Preschool Years

Chapter 5: The School Years and Beyond

Chapter 6: At Any Age

Chapter 7: Keeping Your Eye on the Prize

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